I had some leftover poached turkey and some ham which needed using the other day and so I decided to make a Ham and Turkey Pie.  I thought that it would be fabulous and I was right!  You could also use chicken, but with the holidays coming up I thought it would be nice to show you it with turkey.
This is so simple to make and so delicious!

I didn't think I was going to have time to do anything heart shaped this Valentines Day as my days have been so busy, but I did have a chance today to do these little Lemon & Berry Hand Pies for my Todd.  He does love a jam tart and he really enjoyed these!

I had some lovely lemon curd left from the lovely pot I was given by the English Provender Co  and decided to put it to some good use.  Of course I could have just sat and eaten it with a spoon . . .  and I confess I have been seen doing just that  . . . I simply adore the stuff you know . . . but for today I decided to do something a tiny bit different . . .

Who says that a savoury pie has to have meat in it to be good?  This pie is absolutely fabulous!     You can adapt it to use the cheese which you have in the house. It can be a tiny bit fiddly with the making of the pastry, but absolutely worth all of the fiddle!  We were all drooling over it in this house!

 

I think Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables, and cauliflower cheese is one of my favourite things to do with it . . .  with a dish like that you don't really need any meat . . . rich and indulgent and very, very tasty.



Today I decided to kick it up a notch or two and added a puff pastry crust.  Talk about good . . .
 I love pies of any kind.  If it's got a crust on top . . . I'm well ready to get stuck in!

This is another recipe I like to bake each Christmas.  It just wouldn't be Christmas without a plate of these on offer.   Simple to make and yet so very impressive.  Perfect for a holiday breakfast or brunch, or even for coffee breaks or elevensies.

I saw a recipe very similar to this on the Pillsbury site the other day.   I was intrigued.   Who doesn't love pie?   Who doesn't love chocolate chip cookies?   Who would ADORE the two together?  Not me, that's who!   Chocolate Chip Cookie Stuffed Pies?  They sounded splendiferous!!

 

I usually always have puff pastry lurking in my freezer.  It's one of my store cupboard ingredients and it comes in really handy for both sweet and savory bakes.  It makes a lovely topping on a pot pie and it makes beautiful sweet scrolls . . . like these delicious Sunny Morning Scrolls.



I had a jar of lemon curd in the refrigerator that needed using up and we have had such a run of beautiful sunny days recently, I decided to put the two together and came up with these delicious Breakfast pastries.

 

They were very easy to make.  You just unroll your puff pastry and spread it with some lemon curd to the edges . . . easy enough.   Then I chopped some sultana raisins and toasted pecan nuts together in the mini chopper and sprinkled them on top of the lemon curd, prior to rolling it all up in a nice tight roll.



After  that I used a nice sharp knife to cut the roll into 8 thick slices and placed them onto a paper lined baking tray.  Still easy, right?   Smush them down a tiny bit with the palm of your hand and brush them with an egg wash.  (An egg yolk beaten with a bit of water, simple.)   A final sprinkle of crunchy demerara (turbinado) sugar and they were ready to be baked.



In all honesty I am a bit like a child when I have something like this in the oven, watching them puff up as they bake, through the glass in the oven window.  It's like magic.



Once baked I create lemon drizzle icing to drizzle over them, sort of like gilding the lily I suppose.  They would have been quite lovely without it, but with it . . . well . . . see for yourself.  Is that not magnifique???   Are you drooling yet?  I thought so!  Just like little rays of sunshine.  Fresh flavours.  Easy to make.  So delicious!

 

Put your pecans and sultanas into a food processor and blitz a couple times until they are coarsely chopped.  Set aside.



Bake in the heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.  Remove from the oven.  Let stand on the baking sheet for about 5  minutes then scoop off onto a wire rack.  Whisk together the glaze ingredients, adding only enough lemon juice to the sugar to make a drizzable mixture.  You may only need about a teaspoon of juice.  Drizzle decoratively over top of the buns.   Serve warm.

Delicious indeed!!

First make the dumplings.   Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Line a baking tray with some baking parchment.

Unroll your puff pastry.  Cut out 4 3-inch squares and place them each on the baking tray, leaving plenty of space in between.  Cut out 9 to 12 small pastry leaves.  (You can just cut another 3-inch squares into four triangles each and score lightly to resemble the veins in leaves.)  Cut the remainder of the pastry into 1/2 inch wide long strips.  

Core the apples and peel.   Mix the sugar with the cinnamon and roll each apple in this mixture to coat. Brush the squares on the baking sheeet with some of the beaten egg.  Place each cored apple on the centre of a pastry square and fold the pastry up to fit around the apple base snuggly.   Fill each core with an equal quantity of mincemeat.   Brush the pastry strips lightly with some of the beaten egg and apply them to the apples, covering them all the way around, working your way up from the bottom and slightly overlapping them over each other, egg wash side in so that they stick to each other.  Do this until the apples are all covered with the exception of the mincemeat hole in the middle.   Brush the leaves with some egg wash, and apply around the holes, again leaving the hole open.   Brush the outsides of the pastry covered apples with some more egg wash and then sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Bake in the heated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the pasty is golden brown and crisp and the mincemeat is bubbling and the apples are cooked.  Remove from the oven and allow to stand while you make the creme anglaise.

Heat the cream with the vanilla in a saucepan until you see bubbles around the edges.  Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until smooth.  Slowly pour half of the cream into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.   Return this mixture to the remainder of the hot cream, again whisking constantly.  Return the pan to the heat and cook, whisking, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a metal spoon.  Remove from the heat and whisk in the spices. 

Place one fourth of the cream anglaise in each of four dessert bowls.  Top each with one of the baked apples and serve immediately.  Delicious!

 


Todd and I are going to take a little trip into Wales today, a day trip as it were.  We are supposed to be having a beautiful day weather-wise and it may well be one of the last few we get before the weather turns.  

You can never tell over here.  I think it was Bob Hope who said about our weather . . . "Don't like the British weather?  Wait five minutes!"



I recently bought a little booklet at the grocery store, entitled Delicious Pastries.  I fear I have been in love with puff pastry my whole life.

This love has been fueled by trips made to my French Grandmaman's home where we would feast on caramel filled puff pastry squares dolloped with thick sweet cream . . . mmmm . . . so good. That was the first time I saw people eating cream dolloped onto pastry.



I don't generally make my own puff pastry.  If you buy a good quality all butter brand, there is no need to do so. It's as good as any you can make.  

There was a recipe in the booklet that I had been eyeballing since I got it home for some  delicious looking Sugar and Almond Pastries and I thought they would be perfect for our picnic.



As well, they appeared very quick and easy to make, and y'all know how lazy I am, lol.  The filling is a very simple almond frangipane filling.

It is rich with egg yolks, melted butter, sugar and almonds (of course!)  Two different kinds, both ground and flaked.



You may think they look a bit strange and you would be right.   I didn't seal the edges of my pastries well enough and they blew open as they baked.

Which isn't really as big a disaster as you might think. They just aren't very perfect looking, but I can assure you they taste fabulous all the same.



So why am I showing you them if they aren't perfect???  For several reasons.  One . . . you need to know that not everything I touch turns to gold.  

And two . . . it's a sound recipe and They taste fabulous, no matter how they look.  So there. 



This is how they are supposed to look. ☺

Arrange the squares on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake in the heated oven for 20 minutes, until golden and starting to brown.  Remove from the oven and brush immediately with the melted butter and sprinkle with the caster sugar.   Leave to cool on the baking sheet.  Serve warm or cold.  Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

 

I was shopping in Aldi (the Which Grocery Retailer of the year 2012 and a very inexpensive shop to shop in) the other day when I picked up some British Asparagus that was marked at 50% of the regular price.  And it was Asparagus tips and the thin new season tender ones to boot!  Score!!

 

As soon as I saw it I had in mind that I wanted to make some Asparagus Tarts with it.   The Toddster is a pie man and when I can disguise vegetables that aren't peas and carrots in the form of a tart I am happy, and he is happy and all is right with the world.



I normally always have puff pastry in the freezer or refrigerator.  It comes in very handy.   I usually buy it fresh when it's on special and then if it gets close to it's sell buy date and I haven't used it, I bang it into the freezer.  My motto is you can never have too much puff pastry to hand!   If you have a packet of puff pastry . . . you have a meal in waiting.

 

These beautiful little tarts are so very easy to make.  You simply shape, brush and bake.  Then you punch down the centres, spread them with a bit of salad cream, lay on cheese and the asparagus, sprinkle with some olive oil and salt and pepper and bake some more . . .



Then when the crust is all perfectly crisp and brown . . . and the asparagus is perfectly roasted crispy tender . . . you sprinkle them with a bit of Parmesan and bake them again just until it melts.  I love Parmesan cheese . . . it packs a lot of punch and you don't have to use tons of it to get some flavour.



I like to drizzle the finished tart with a bit of French Dressing or some White Balsamic for some extra flavour.   The end result is a fabulous tart with lovely crisp pastry, beautifully and perfectly cooked asparagus . . . easy to create, quick to make . . . and they are something which you would not be ashamed to serve to even your most discerning guests.

 

You can serve them on a bed of Baby Salad Greens or not as you wish . . . most impressive.  They are not a lot of work, and everybody's happy.  You can't ask for much more than that.

Ohhh . . . I do so love Asparagus season . . . it's very early in it now, so thankfully I have quite a few more weeks to enjoy it!  Yippee!!



*Asparagus Tarts*
Makes 6
Printable Recipe

Beautiful fresh spring Asparagus atop a crisp bed of flaky pastry, salad cream and cheese.  Deliciously easy!  An excellent first course or light lunch.

I packet of ready roll, all butter puff pastry
6 TBS of salad cream (I used the chive and onion flavored one)
6 slices of Jarlsberg cheese
2 packets of Asparagus tips, washed and trimmed (enough to lay out
on top of each tart in even measure)
a bit of olive oil to drizzle
1 small free range egg beaten with 1 tsp water
flaked sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper
3 - 4 TBS coarsely grated Parmesan Cheese
Prepared French Dressing, or White Balsamic vinegar to drizzle

 

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Line a large baking tray with baking parchment.   Unroll your puff pastry and cut into six equally sized rectangles.  Place them a few inches apart on the baking tray. Using a sharp knife, cut a thin border around the circumference of each, taking care not to cut all the way through.  Using a fork prick the insides of the rectangles all over.   Brush the border with a bit of the egg wash.   Bake in the heated oven for 10 minutes.


Remove from the oven and carefully punch down the pastry in the middle with the back of a spoon. Spread each tart with 1 TBS of the salad cream and top with a slice of Jarlsberg.  Lay out the asparagus evenly spaced across each tart, toe to tail.  Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Return to the oven and bake for about 10 minutes longer, until the pastry is golden brown and the asparagus is lightly roasted, but still crisp.

 


Sprinkle some of the Parmesan cheese over top of each tart.  Bang back into the oven for 2 or 3 minutes to melt the Parmesan.   Serve hot and drizzled with a bit of French Dressing or White Balsamic Vinegar.   Delicious! 

Note:  you can also serve these on a bed of baby spring salad greens.